第 65 节
作者:乐乐陶陶      更新:2021-02-20 05:16      字数:9322
  And fawn…like eyes still tremble as they glow。
  From the Sanskrit of Calidasa
  SIMPLEX MUNDITIIS
  From 〃Epicoene〃
  Still to be neat; still to be dressed
  As you were going to a feast;
  Still to be powdered; still perfumed:
  Lady; it is to be presumed;
  Though art's hid causes are not found;
  All is not sweet; all is not sound。
  Give me a look; give me a face;
  That makes simplicity a grace;
  Robes loosely flowing; hair as free:
  Such sweet neglect more taketh me
  Than all the adulteries of art;
  They strike mine eyes; but not my heart。
  Ben Jonson '1573?…1637'
  DELIGHT IN DISORDER
  A sweet disorder in the dress
  Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
  A lawn about the shoulders thrown
  Into a fine distraction:
  An erring lace; which here and there
  Enthrals the crimson stomacher:
  A cuff neglectful; and thereby
  Ribbons to flow confusedly:
  A winning wave; deserving note;
  In the tempestuous petticoat:
  A careless shoe…string; in whose tie
  I see a wild civility:
  Do more bewitch me than when art
  Is too precise in every part。
  Robert Herrick '1591…1674'
  A PRAISE OF HIS LADY
  Give place; you ladies; and begone!
  Boast not yourselves at all!
  For here at hand approacheth one
  Whose face will stain you all。
  The virtue of her lively looks
  Excels the precious stone;
  I wish to have none other books
  To read or look upon。
  In each of her two crystal eyes
  Smileth a naked boy;
  It would you all in heart suffice
  To see that lamp of joy。
  I think Nature hath lost the mould
  Where she her shape did take;
  Or else I doubt if Nature could
  So fair a creature make。
  She may be well compared
  Unto the Phoenix kind;
  Whose like was never seen nor heard;
  That any man can find。
  In life she is Diana chaste;
  In truth Penelope;
  In word and eke in deed steadfast。
  What will you more we say?
  If all the world were sought so far;
  Who could find such a wight?
  Her beauty twinkleth like a star
  Within the frosty night。
  Her roseal color comes and goes
  With such a comely grace;
  More ruddier; too; than doth the rose
  Within her lively face。
  At Bacchus' feast none shall her meet;
  Nor at no wanton play;
  Nor gazing in an open street;
  Nor gadding as a stray。
  The modest mirth that she doth use
  Is mixed with shamefastness;
  All vice she doth wholly refuse;
  And hateth idleness。
  O Lord! it is a world to see
  How virtue can repair;
  And deck her in such honesty;
  Whom Nature made so fair。
  Truly she doth so far exceed
  Our women nowadays;
  As doth the gillyflower a weed;
  And more a thousand ways。
  How might I do to get a graff
  Of this unspotted tree?
  For all the rest are plain but chaff;
  Which seem good corn to be。
  This gift alone I shall her give:
  When death doth what he can;
  Her honest fame shall ever live
  Within the mouth of man。
  John Heywood '1497?…1580?'
  ON A CERTAIN LADY AT COURT
  I know a thing that's most uncommon;
  (Envy; be silent and attend!)
  I know a reasonable woman;
  Handsome and witty; yet a friend。
  Not warped by passion; awed by rumor;
  Not grave through pride; nor gay through folly;
  An equal mixture of good…humor
  And sensible soft melancholy。
  〃Has she no faults then; (Envy says); Sir?〃
  Yes; she has one; I must aver:
  When all the world conspires to praise her;
  The woman's deaf; and does not hear。
  Alexander Pope '1688…1744'
  PERFECT WOMAN
  She was a phantom of delight
  When first she gleamed upon my sight;
  A lovely apparition; sent
  To be a moment's ornament;
  Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
  Like twilight's; too; her dusky hair;
  But all things else about her drawn
  From May…time and the cheerful dawn;
  A dancing shape; an image gay;
  To haunt; to startle; and waylay。
  I saw her upon nearer view;
  A Spirit; yet a Woman too!
  Her household motions light and free;
  And steps of virgin liberty;
  A countenance in which did meet
  Sweet records; promises as sweet;
  A creature not too bright or good
  For human nature's daily food;
  For transient sorrows; simple wiles;
  Praise; blame; love; kisses; tears; and smiles。
  And now I see with eye serene
  The very pulse of the machine;
  A being breathing thoughtful breath;
  A traveller between life and death;
  The reason firm; the temperate will;
  Endurance; foresight; strength; and skill;
  A perfect Woman; nobly planned;
  To warn; to comfort; and command;
  And yet a Spirit still; and bright
  With something of angelic light。
  William Wordsworth '1770…1850'
  THE SOLITARY…HEARTED
  She was a queen of noble Nature's crowning;
  A smile of hers was like an act of grace;
  She had no winsome looks; no pretty frowning;
  Like daily beauties of the vulgar race:
  But if she smiled; a light was on her face;
  A clear; cool kindliness; a lunar beam
  Of peaceful radiance; silvering o'er the stream
  Of human thought with unabiding glory;
  Not quite a waking truth; not quite a dream;
  A visitation; bright and transitory。
  But she is changed; … hath felt the touch of sorrow;
  No love hath she; no understanding friend;
  O grief! when Heaven is forced of earth to borrow
  What the poor niggard earth has not to lend;
  But when the stalk is snapped; the rose must bend。
  The tallest flower that skyward rears its head
  Grows from the common ground; and there must shed
  Its delicate petals。  Cruel fate; too surely;
  That they should find so base a bridal bed;
  Who lived in virgin pride; so sweet and purely。
  She had a brother; and a tender father;
  And she was loved; but not as others are
  From whom we ask return of love; … but rather
  As one might love a dream; a phantom fair
  Of something exquisitely strange and rare;
  Which all were glad to look on; men and maids;
  Yet no one claimed … as oft; in dewy glades;
  The peering primrose; like a sudden gladness;
  Gleams on the soul; yet unregarded fades; …
  The joy is ours; but all its own the sadness。
  'Tis vain to say … her worst of grief is only
  The common lot; which all the world have known;
  To her 'tis more; because her heart is lonely;
  And yet she hath no strength to stand alone; …
  Once she had playmates; fancies of her own;
  And she did love them。  They are passed away
  As Fairies vanish at the break of day;
  And like a spectre of an age departed;
  Or unsphered Angel wofully astray;
  She glides along … the solitary…hearted。
  Hartley Coleridge '1796…1849'
  OF THOSE WHO WALK ALONE
  Women there are on earth; most sweet and high;
  Who lose their own; and walk bereft and lonely;
  Loving that one lost heart until they die;
  Loving it only。
  And so they never see beside them grow
  Children; whose coming is like breath of flowers;
  Consoled by subtler loves the angels know
  Through childless hours。
  Good deeds they do: they comfort and they bless
  In duties others put off till the morrow;
  Their look is balm; their touch is tenderness
  To all in sorrow。
  Betimes the world smiles at them; as 'twere shame;
  This maiden guise; long after youth's departed;
  But in God's Book they bear another name …
  〃The faithful…hearted。〃
  Faithful in life; and faithful unto death;
  Such souls; in sooth; illume with lustre splendid
  That glimpsed; glad land wherein; the Vision saith;
  Earth's wrongs are ended。
  Richard Burton '1861…
  〃SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY〃
  She walks in beauty; like the night
  Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
  And all that's best of dark and bright
  Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
  Thus mellowed to that tender light
  Which heaven to gaudy day denies。
  One shade the more; one ray the less;
  Had half impaired the nameless grace
  Which waves in every raven tress
  Or softly lightens o'er her face;
  Where thoughts serenely sweet express
  How pure; how dear their dwelling…place。
  And on that cheek; and o'er that brow
  So soft; so calm; yet eloquent;
  The smiles that win; the tints that glow;
  But tell of days in goodness spent;
  A mind at peace with all below;
  A heart whose love is innocent!
  George Gordon Byron '1788…1824'
  PRELUDES
  From 〃The Angel in the House〃
  I
  UNTHRIFT
  Ah; wasteful woman; she that may
  On her sweet self set her own price;
  Knowing man cannot choose but pay;
  How has she cheapened paradise;
  How given for nought her priceless gift;
  How spoiled the bread; and spilled the wine;
  Which; spent with due; respective thrift;
  Had made brutes men; and men divine。
  II
  HONOR AND DESERT
  O Queen; awake to thy renown;
  Require what 'tis our wealth to give;
  And comprehend and wear the crown
  Of thy despised prerogative!
  I; who in manhood's name at length
  With glad songs come to abdicate
  The gross regality of strength;
  Must yet in this thy praise abate;
  That; through thine erring humbleness
  And disregard o